FPSO Ichthys Venturer arrives in Oz

Photo: INPEX

THE INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project’s Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility has arrived in Australian waters.

The 336 metre-long Ichthys Venturer is to be permanently moored in the Browse Basin, about 220km off the Western Australian coast.

“The safe completion of the 5600km, 26-day tow of the Ichthys Venturer from South Korea to Australian waters is another significant stride forward for the Ichthys LNG Project,” said managing director Ichthys Project, Louis Bon.

“The Ichthys Venturer is one of the largest and most advanced offshore facilities of its kind in the world, and it can accommodate up to 200 people,” Mr Bon said.

“The FPSO has been designed to hold 1.12m barrels of condensate and operate for 40 years in a cyclonic environment, setting new benchmarks for durability.”

Ichthys Venturer joins the Ichthys LNG Project’s central processing facility, the Ichthys Explorer, the world’s largest semisubmersible platform that was safely moored in the Ichthys Field recently.

Hook-up and commissioning is expected to start after the Ichthys Venturer is moored in the waters of the Ichthys Field.

The FPSO is to process, stabilise and store the condensate delivered from the Ichthys Explorer before periodically offloading it to tankers for export.

The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce up to 8.9m tonnes of LNG a year and 1.65m tonnes of LPG a year, along with about 100,000 barrels of condensate a day at peak.